Recent News

By Category: Research

Mechanism Of Immunity Discovered

(MedicalNewsToday) Scientists at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine have discovered a mechanism that is used to protect the body from harmful bacteria. Platelets, a component of blood typically associated with clotting, were discovered to actively search for specific bacteria, and upon detection, seal it off from the rest of the body. The findings, Read More »

June 21, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Research
Share

Flu Virus Attacks Like a Pirate With a Grappling Hook

(GlobalBiodefense) Viruses are biological pirates, invading cells and hijacking their machinery to reproduce and infect again. Research at Harvard Medical School is shedding new light on the battle line where viral and cell membranes meet, and the key role of a protein grappling hook with which the influenza virus commandeers its prize—your cells. An influenza Read More »

June 21, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Research
Share

A shot in the arm for old antibiotics

(EurekAlert) Slipping bacteria some silver could give old antibiotics new life, scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported June 19 in Science Translational Medicine. Treating bacteria with a silver-containing compound boosted the efficacy of a broad range of widely used antibiotics and helped them stop otherwise lethal infections in Read More »

June 19, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, and Research
Share

Making Bacteria Make More Antibiotics More Quickly

(MedicalNewsToday) An antibiotic has been found to stimulate its own production. The findings, to be published in PNAS, could make it easier to scale up antibiotic production for commercialisation. Scientists Dr Emma Sherwood and Professor Mervyn Bibb from the John Innes Centre were able to use their discovery of how the antibiotic is naturally produced Read More »

June 19, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, and Research
Share

Saint Louis University researchers discover a way to detect new viruses

(EurekAlert) In research published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Saint Louis University researchers describe a technology that can detect new, previously unknown viruses. The technique offers the potential to screen patients for viruses even when doctors have not identified a particular virus as the likely source of an infection. In the new approach, scientists Read More »